The present invention relates to a clamping device for joining two adjacent-lying flange pieces of components, and a flange connection having a clamping device.
Components that are provided as components for the purpose of being assembled with other components are frequently manufactured with flanges. A flange (or flange piece) of a component thus forms a contact surface at which another component can be, for example, screwed, clamped, or fixed by welding, and which serves in many applications also for a transfer of forces and/or for sealing. In particular, the components to be joined may have the same type of flanges, which can be positioned relative to one another and joined together during assembly.
Such flange connections find application in many different fields. For example, with these connections, assembled tubes or casings can be manufactured or different types of elements, such as, e.g., a motor and a casing, can be fastened to each other.
For the most part, flanges used in conventional flange connections have through boreholes. Screws or bolts are passed through these boreholes and placed under tension with nuts. Here, the screws or bolts lie in the flow of operating forces and determine the entire clamping force.
An alternative connection design provides for the clamping of flanges by wedge elements. In this case, a screw or bolt can be used for fixing the wedge element.
For example, the publication DE 10 159 667 A1 discloses a connection device for the separable connection of two components, by which an essentially cylindrical recess of the first of the components and an essentially cylindrical protrusion of the second of the components are placed under tension or clamped together.
A method and a device for aligning an inner turbine casing with respect to an outer turbine casing are known from US 2013/0039749 A1.
The publication DE 196 04 702 discloses a force-fit and form-fit connection arrangement for rotationally symmetrical components, with which a sleeve engages over two abutting flange collars. Wedge-shaped tension elements are pulled into the sleeve by tension bolts. The tension elements are pressed against one of the collars in this way. Depending on the type of components being connected, the positioning and assembly of such a connection arrangement, however, can be complicated and expensive.
According to an embodiment also disclosed in the publication, the sleeve is formed on one of the two components. High bending forces, by which the material is stressed and the connection can be loosened, operate on a sleeve which is integrated in this way into the component and which engages over the adjacent flange of the other component, due to the clamping and with the corresponding use of the joined components.
The same argument applies to a separable connection, which is disclosed in the publication DE 10 2012 007 145 A1, of rotationally symmetrical components comprising a sleeve that axially engages over two adjacent flange collars.